How to Use Maps in iMovie

Maps are more versatile than ever

There are many reasons to make a home movie. Whether it’s to record your baby’s first words; capture that amazing inner talent as your child steps onto the stage for the first time; preserve the moment as your daughter walks down the aisle; record a rare family gathering where everyone was able to come; or just film the latest prank your mate’s about to pull. None of these would be possible without an iPhone or a home video camera and programs such as Apple’s iMovie.

If you’re the type of person that likes to keep a record of your trips abroad, then you might appreciate one of iMovie’s Maps feature. With iMovie ‘11, you can now zoom down into the globe to see the distance between both cities a little more clearly. Don’t think, though, that you can zoom in to street level – iMovie isn’t designed for that (or at least it isn’t yet, but who knows: maybe Apple’s acquisition of Placebase in 2009 -- an online map technology similar to Google Maps but not as accurate – will lead to more accurate maps in future versions of iMovie).

In the tutorial that follows, we’ll show you everything you need to know to add a map to your vacation film. You’ll feel like you’re watching an Indiana Jones movie as that red line moves across the map to its destination (in fact, this can perfectly complement the ‘Adventure’ movie trailer theme which is also part of iMovie ‘11).

So go ahead and open up one of your existing projects, or create a new one from scratch if you prefer, and let’s get globe-trotting.

Use the Globe Map’s unique parameters

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Use Maps in iMovie

Reveal the maps by going to Window > Maps, Backgrounds and Animatics, use the command+5 keyboard shortcut or click the toolbar’s globe icon (far right). Four different types are available and three different themes for each type. Drag a map anywhere in your project.

The Inspector window opens up. You can apply an effect to your map if you want to, but the most important sections are the Start and End locations. The former is compulsory. Click on either to rotate the Inspector window. Type a city name and select it from the list.

Click OK then hit the spacebar to play the animation (it will keep looping until you hit the spacebar again). You’ll see the journey between both points illustrated by a red line between two dots. If you’re happy with what you see, click the Inspector’s blue ‘done’ button.

Let’s add another map to your project. Select one of the four maps once more and add it somewhere after the first. Notice that the first map’s End Location is now this map’s Start Location: iMovie assumes you’re telling your story chronologically and tries to save you time.

Drag a globe over the second map you’ve added: information you typed previously is preserved. You can experiment without having to type everything each time you swap themes (this doesn’t apply to ‘still’ maps since you can’t use those to display a course).

You can zoom into your map using iMovie’s Crop tool. With it you can cut down the unwanted parts of your map to focus on the important section. You can even switch to the Ken Burns tool to pan and zoom across your map over time. Be aware though that your map is optimized to be seen in its native size: if you zoom too much into it, it may end up looking blurry because there isn’t enough information to display, and the map becomes pixelated.

You don’t have to stick to the name iMovie chooses when searching for Start and End locations for your map. At the bottom of the reversed Inspector window is a text field called Name to display on map. Type in whatever you want and it’ll replace the location’s default name.